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Current Exhibitions
Self-[contained]
May 11 – July 1
Gallery MThe exhibition, Self-[contained], features freestanding ceramic sculptures and large-scale vessels that evoke the whimsical, the mournful, the absurd, and the fantastical through depictions of the human face or figure. Some of these works suggest a bodily transmutation into otherworldly, human chimeras. Others exaggerate the human form, thereby bringing the private psychologies we often project onto figural artwork to the forefront. Imaginative, yet grounded in the reality of emotion, the artwork in Self-[contained] gestures toward the body we inhabit and the consciousness within which we exist. Artists included in the exhibition are Lisa Clague, Michael Corney, Jenny Mendes, Andy Nasisse, Derek Weisberg, Janis Mars Wunderlich, and Kensuke Yamada.
An opening reception will be held for the artists on, Friday, May 11, from 6 - 8 pm.
Lisa Clague always knew that she wanted to be an artist. After years of studio education studying illustration, painting, textiles, and jewelry, she became interested in ceramics and the possibilities of experimenting with materials. Clague’s work depicts what she calls “masked hybrid creatures” which are inspired by her “dreams, delightful fancies, or feverish horrors. Nature, ancient art, antique toys, old dolls that are beyond repair, all feed my imagination.”
Michael Corney received his BFA from California State University, Fullerton, and an MFA from Cranbook Academy of Art. He has been artist-in-residence at the Cleveland Institute of Art, the Kohler Arts in Industry Program, and the California College of Arts and Crafts. Corney’s philosophy is that if the artist’s intention must be explained to the viewer, then “we are not doing our job as ‘visual’ artists.” He became a visual artist because, in his view, it was the most successful way to express complex ideas. Corney currently resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and works as a studio artist and teacher.
Jenny Mendes holds a BFA from Washington University and was resident artist at the Penland School of Crafts. She has received numerous awards for her work including the Artists’ Choice Bronze Award at the Smithsonian Craft Show (2006) and Cain Park Arts Festival-Juror’s Selection (2004). Mendes explains, “Using clay as my primary material, I have found an entry way into my subconscious…First I create a structure which I overlay with painted patterns of emotional experience, sensory based memories, cellular formations, and other discoveries. Working within a human/animal narrative, I engage in a dialogue that witnesses and reflects an invitation into my world.”
Andy Nasisse is Professor Emeritus at the University of Georgia and a studio artist. He has received numerous awards and commissions over the years including the Ford Foundation Research Grant and a National Endowment for the Arts Regional Fellowship, as well as a major commission for the Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport. Nasisse is interested in the “tension between opposites: light and dark; male and female; between expansion and contradiction; good and evil; organic and geometric; ration and intuition; mind and body; night and day; between our conscious lives and our subconscious self; between matter and spirit.”
Derek Weisberg received his BFA from the California College of Arts and Crafts. Since then, he has co-owned a gallery, curated exhibitions, and exhibited his sculptures nationally and internationally. About the emotional intensity of his artwork, Weisberg states, “I create works of art that are emotional and psychological self-portraits. Through my work I aim to make sense of my life, my experiences, and the times in which I live.…My goal is to create images that are accessible and allow the viewer to have an experience that can not be easily articulated, but felt.” Weisberg currently lives and works in New York, and is a resident studio technician at Greenwich House Pottery.
Janis Mars Wunderlich received her BFA from Brigham Young University in Utah and her MFA from Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. Wunderlich has been represented in more than 70 national and international exhibitions in the past five years including Confrontational Clay at the American Craft Museum, NY; NCECA Clay National, Las Vegas; and Heim und Handwerk, Munich Convention Hall, Munich, Germany. She notes, “Children’s literature is a big influence in my work, from Peter Rabbit and Curious George to the Wild Things and Grimm’s fairy tales. …These stories, much like my sculptures, are filled with animalistic creatures who provoke the mind to look beyond reality into the realm of imagination.”
Having moved to the United States as an exchange student, Kensuke Yamada earned a BA from The Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington, and an MFA in Ceramic Sculpture from the University of Montana, Missoula. Yamada has enjoyed several artist residencies including positions at the Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, Maine, and the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, Helena, Montana. His work has been shown at several national venues and has been featured in International Examiner, Ceramics Monthly, and in the Seattle Times. Yamada’s experiences as a foreigner navigating a new language led to a focus on “human gestures and facial expressions,” which are embodied in his sculpture. He explains, “The ceramic figures I create convey this collective understanding shared by all individuals by using facial expression and simple body language to communicate on a universal level.”Be sure to join us for a free exhibition related Slide Talk with Michael Corney and Derek Weisberg on Thursday, May 10 from 6-8pm as well as a free Studio Observation with Michael Corney on Saturday, May 12 from 12-4pm. Please pre-register as space is limited. Visit our workshop page for details.
2012 Regis Master Exhibition: Richard Shaw
May 11 – July 1
Emily Galusha Gallery
“Having to come up with new stuff all the time keeps me alive.”— Richard Shaw
Richard Shaw, Northern Clay Center’s 24th Regis Master, is one of two ceramic artists bestowed with this title in 2012. The other, Jun Kaneko, will be featured in an exhibition later this year. The Regis Masters Series began in 1997 and honors senior artists, over the age of 65, who have had a major impact on the development of 20th century—now 21st century—ceramics. Shaw will add to an oral history of a senior generation of ceramic artists on Saturday, May 26, at 2 pm, with a free public lecture at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
Richard Shaw was born in Hollywood in 1941 to an artist mother and cartoonist father. He received his BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1965 and his MFA from the University of California at Davis in 1968. He later received an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from the San Francisco Art Institute. Shaw was part of the San Francisco Bay Area Funk movement, with other ceramic greats: Viola Frey, Ron Nagle, Robert Arneson, and James Melchert.He received Visual Artist Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1971 and 1974. His roster of solo and group exhibitions is extensive, with shows at Frank Lloyd Gallery in Santa Monica, the Braunstein/Quay Gallery in San Francisco, Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Perimeter Gallery in Chicago, Thomas Segal Gallery in Boston, and Davis & Cline Gallery in Ashland, Oregon.
Since 1987, Shaw has been a professor at the University of California at Berkeley. Prior to that, he was a lecturer at the University of California at Davis, the College of Marin in Kentfield, California, and the University of Wisconsin at Madison. The spontaneity of the material propels his and his students' learning. “Being with students keeps me alive,” he stated of his work at UC Berkeley.
Shaw bought his home in Fairfax, California in 1976, where he still lives today. His home and yard are filled with old memorabilia—old gas pumps, a “funky” car—making him feel as if he was “stuck in the 1930’s”. His studio is the same studio that he’s worked in since the mid–70s. His library of molds is stacked floor to ceiling. Shaw was said to have wanted to make the whole world out of clay; his home and surroundings certainly provide inspiration for that goal. Prior to college, Shaw was interested in filmmaking and painting. At Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, California, Shaw first fell in love with clay. In graduate school, Shaw made miniatures in wood, with clay, metal, and glass parts. Wanting to prove to his peers that he practiced what he preached (in the academic setting), he returned to ceramics in 1970.
At White Gate Ranch, a former dairy town in Stinson Beach, California, Shaw collaborated with fellow artist Robert Hudson for several years. Their wives worked in mixed media and painting, respectively, with their children underfoot. The Years at White Gate Ranch, an exhibition catalogue published by the Bolinas Museum for the Art and History of Coastal Marin, documents this time period and the work of these and other artists.Shaw and Hudson created hundreds of works of ceramic art in a shared studio. They collaborated on the creation of porcelain wares made from slip cast found objects; the resulting objects did not resemble traditional utilitarian pots. This exercise paved the way for ongoing exploration of trompe l'oeil ceramics, of which Shaw is now a master, with his slip cast renderings of books, skulls, food, playing cards, and tools for art making.
His three-dimensional still lifes begin with multi-part plaster molds that produce lifelike clay objects, later assembled and brought to life with the addition of silk-screened and overglaze, transfer decals. His sculptures are so lifelike that even the most skilled ceramicist must pause to examine a piece. In an episode of public television station’s KQED’s arts program Spark, Shaw stated, “When you fool other guys making ceramics, you’ve got it,” in response to a viewer’s inquiry into why a particular piece included a glass bottle. Shaw’s sculptures trick the eye and call attention to commonly overlooked objects and imagery. He engages viewers through illusion, humor, and sometimes, sentiment. “Sentiment is practically what all of this stuff is about, in a serious way. No, 'sentimental' to me is not a bad word. I mean, I love all this old stuff. 'Sentimental' is more about memory art, maybe times that are old, which you might not even understand” (Richard Shaw: New Work, catalogue produced by the Braunstein/Quay Gallery, 2007; interview with Richard Whittaker, 2006).Shaw will not be present for the opening on May 11, but he will be present on Saturday, May 26 for his Regis Masters lecture at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts beginning at 2 pm.
The Regis Masters Series is made possible by a generous grant from Regis and Friends. The lectures are co-sponsored by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
*Richard Shaw plate images courtesy Braunstein/Quay Gallery; photo credit Alice Shaw
**Sewing Box image courtesy Goodwin Fine Art